


I Remember

by mithrel



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Based on a Tumblr Post, Blanket Permission, Episode Related, Episode: s06e05 The Black Paladins, M/M, Podfic Welcome, Pre-Slash, Season/Series 06
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-08 16:41:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15247485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mithrel/pseuds/mithrel
Summary: Shiro and Keith have a conversation after the dust has settled.





	I Remember

**Author's Note:**

> Loosely based on [these](http://phaltu.tumblr.com/post/175086873707/shiro-looking-at-keiths-scar-im-so-sorry) [two](https://paladins-of-light.tumblr.com/post/175133494829/not-pictured-keith-crashing-the-black-lion-into) tumblr posts.

Shiro looks at Keith, sitting next to him in their suite on Olkarion. The healing scar stands out livid against his pale skin.

He sighs and Keith looks his way, curiously. “You alright?”

“I’m fine.” It’s a lie. He can’t help it, he reaches out and traces over the burn with his thumb. 

Keith’s eyes widen. 

“I’m sorry about this.”

Keith reaches up and takes his hand. “It’s not your fault. It wasn’t you.”

“I’m still sorry.”

Keith lets his hand fall and puts a hand on his right shoulder. “I’m sorry too.”

Shiro feels a wry smile tug at his lips. “Don’t be. The arm was how Haggar was controlling the clone. And…” he closes his eyes, confesses, “and I always hated it anyway.”

Keith’s eyes go soft, and he squeezes his shoulders, before going back to his tablet.

Shiro takes the time to study him, this new, different Keith who came back from years away. He’d always had a wiry strength, but now he’s taller, and he’s added lean muscles that shift under his shirt.

His gaze falls to the floor, where Keith’s wolf is curled up on his feet. It’s been polite to everyone, but hasn’t really warmed up to any of them, much like Keith himself used to be.

Yes, Keith has changed. Before, he would have never let his guard down enough to say those words.

It’s supremely ironic, Shiro thinks, that each time Keith confessed his feelings, it wasn’t to the real him, yet Shiro heard them anyway.

_You’re like a brother to me. You’re my brother. I love you._

Suddenly he needs to know if that’s how Keith really feels, if he only said those things because he knew Shiro would never hear them, or if he said them as a distraction–

“Keith?”

Keith looks up at him, a small furrow between his brows. “Hm?”

“Did you mean it?”

Keith tilts his head quizzically. “Mean what?”

Shiro swallows. “What…what you said on the platform.”

Keith goes white, and he shies away, making the wolf look up and _whuff_ its displeasure at him.

Shiro’s heart sinks, but he doesn’t press Keith for an answer.

“How…how do you know about that?” Keith’s voice is hoarse.

“When Allura transferred my spirit into the clone’s body, I got all his memories.”

Keith nods, huffs out a breath, clasps his hands in his lap. “I…I meant it.”

Something warm swells in his chest, but Keith is staring at the floor, his shoulders hunched as though he expects harsh words, or worse.

And Shiro can’t bear that, so he gets up, unceremoniously nudges the wolf aside and pulls Keith to his feet.

“Wha–“

He only has one arm, but he puts that one around Keith and hugs him, _hard_. “I love you too.”

Keith’s arms claw at his back. “I…know.”

“Then why did you act like I was going to hit you?”

“I just…I don’t know. I’ve never said that to anyone before.”

Shiro holds him tighter. “I’m proud to be the first.”

Keith laughs wetly against him.


End file.
